Update 9.20 is heading full speed towards Common Test today. If you’ve been waiting to battle it out in the new 30 vs 30 mode, Chinese TDs or rebalanced vehicles, this is your chance to get hands-on with them. Once you have some time to play a few games, hop onto the 9.20 forum thread to share your thoughts and help us fine-tune the update.
Ranked Battles
Ranked Battles just recently finished its Beta Season, raising mixed feelings across the global World of Tanks community. We’ve dug into all your feedback and would like to touch upon changes that we hope will improve your experience.
Fine-Tuning the Essentials
One of the main issues discussed on the forums was the mode’s simplicity. The core gameplay of battling against top-notch tankers of a similar skill set works, but the ladder to Rank 5 did not provide a real challenge to experienced players.
We tried to fix that by changing the mechanics behind earning chevrons and ranks. Our main goal was to raise their value and, thus, make for more challenging yet rewarding gameplay.
This is how it will look during the 9.20 Common Test. While the number of ranks will remain unchanged, the amount of chevrons you need to progress to the next rank will alter. It will be distributed among ranks as 1-3-5-7-9, which means you only need one chevron to progress to Rank 1, but it’s nothing compared to nine chevrons to go from Rank 4 to Rank 5. It may sound easy on paper, but in reality, you have to be an experienced tanker to make it up to the top.
More to it, the mechanics for vehicle ranks will be updated, too. In Beta Season 2, no matter which rank your machine has at the moment, you’ll need exactly 5 chevrons to get to the next one.
The way you earn chevrons has also changed. If your team wins a battle and you make it to the top 10 in experience points, congratulations: you leave the battle with a chevron. You keep the same number of chevrons if you rank in the bottom 5 of a winning team or if you reach the top 5 of a losing team. If you’re out of the top 5 of a losing team—you lose one chevron.
The main purpose of these changes is to promote better teamwork, because, while Ranked Battles is all about personal ratings, it’s the team that wins a particular battle.
This is the same reason we’ve expanded the list of those who keep their chevrons if their team loses. It means that even if the odds are against you and opponents push you on every flank, don’t give up the fight, help your teammates—and your efforts will be rewarded.
Uplifting the Balance
There were several crucial points regarding combat balance that you mentioned during the first season, and this is how we’ve addressed them:
- The matchmaker became smarter and will now try to gather an equal number of medium and heavy tanks for each team
- The number of SPGs will be limited to 2 units per team
- More maps will be available, as their rotation will be drastically improved, meaning that the chances of seeing the same map will decrease.
Revamped Rewarding
Last but not least, is that the way you receive awards will be revised. Starting from Season 2, you won’t have to wait until the end of the season to receive the major part of your Bond reward. More to it, the value of rewards will rise, as well.
Testing Stages
We’re planning to hold a brief test of the Second Beta during the 9.20 Common Test. By the time the test begins, Ranked Battles will have passed through stages 1 and 2, so you’re very welcome to join in for the 3rd stage, taking place August 2–9.
As always, we appreciate your feedback on the changes we bring into the game. Feel free to share your opinion on the game forums and in social networks, and let us know where you see Ranked Battles heading.
For more information on Grand Battles, changes to Tech Trees, and other improvements we’ve got tied into 9.20, make sure you check out the full preview here:
Discover how you can join the Common Test:
- How the CT works
New to testing? Check out our handy guide to public tests.
Eligibility: All players registered prior to 23:59 FET (20:59 UTC) on July 24 can participate in the test.
Feedback: please post your general feedback about the test version and bug reports in the special thread on our forum.
- Test client
- Download the test client installer (4,9 MB).
- Make sure you pick a save location that is different to your regular World of Tanks game files.
- Save and run the installer.
- Run the new copy of the game. The launcher will download all the additional data.
- Log in and start playing.
- Server restarts
The test server will be restarted regularly, according to the following schedule:
- First Periphery: 04:00 UTC every day. Average duration will be around 25 minutes.
- Second Periphery: 05:00 UTC every day. Average duration will be around 25 minutes.
- Central Database: 09:00 UTC every day. Average duration will be around 2 minutes.
The test server may be subject to unscheduled restarts and maintenance.
We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback on the update. Stay tuned for more news on 9.20!
